Client feedback

“The Trustee Training course is very good. Excellent coverage of material presented in an easy-to-digest manner and quality of presentation by both presenters. ”

Jonathan Williams ,

Bangor University

“​We are extremely pleased with the appointment we made. The way Ian reacts to us and works with us is brilliant. We are very happy.”

Katherine Cross,

Tyser

“In my experience, not all professional trustees are able to cope with tricky or potentially confrontational situations. I find PSGS has massive experience in getting involved, earning the respect of others and resolving such issues. They get stuck in – they are a first rate team.”

Katherine Dandy,

Partner at Sackers & Partners

“​Their pragmatic approach helps with quick and easy decision making. Another approach might have made things more difficult.”

Mark Assinder,

Bouygues

“The trustee training was a very well-paced overview which gave opportunity to explore ideas and question more deeply at key points.”

Paul Coley,

The Altro Pension and Life Scheme

“PSGS was chosen because of their knowledge of the subject and awareness of our particular schemes.”

George Batho ,

Trustee, Lansing Linde

Topic:

Legal & governance

Date published:

Wednesday, 3 September 2014

It is easy to think that making an investment decision is the hardest part. Recently, for a number of pension schemes, it is implementing that decision that has been most problematic. What makes it worse is the cause of the issue is a simple admin task.

Following the well publicised departure of several key members of investment teams at both Barings and Standard Life, many trustee boards recently took the decision quickly to move out of certain investment funds. Some of those schemes, including our own clients, were able to act swiftly and move out of the relevant fund at the earliest opportunity. Others were not so fortunate.

Having spoken to a number of advisers last week, it seems the differentiating factor is the authorised signatories list. Where the list is out of date, some schemes are experiencing significant difficulties in organising the signatures needed to implement the decision - and this represents a very real risk to the trustees.

On appointment, a new trustee should be asked promptly to provide any anti-money laundering information needed, and arrangements should be made for them to be added to fund mandates. A good scheme secretary will make sure this happens, as well as regularly checking the signatory list remains up-to-date. As we have seen in recent days, failing to do this simple task impedes trustees’ ability to act swiftly, which could result in a financial loss to the scheme.